ADAMS, Mass. — The selectmen tabled a request from the owner of the Memorial Building, who wants to change his company's name to qualify for more grant funding.

 

During Wednesday's Select Board meeting, the proposal was initially approved but later tabled after a resident urged the board to have town counsel review the documents.

 

According to Town Administrator Nicholas Caccamo, the owner, Michael Mackin, is seeking to change the name from Memorial School Redevelopment LLC to 30 Columbia Redevelopment LLC, which he said would make him eligible for more grant funding. 

 

In a follow-up with iBerkshires.com, Mackin said the property must be twice removed from town ownership to be eligible for certain grant funding.

 

Mackin was not present at Wednesday's board meeting, but Caccamo explained that the change would make Mackin eligible for the Berkshire Brownfields Revolving Loan Program to help fund hazardous-material abatement and the removal of heating oil tanks.

 

Caccamo told the board the change is solely creating a delineation of ownership and does not change anything in the lease, building permits, lease agreement with the town, or any work planned or in progress.

 

The town has signed a lease to use the building once renovations are complete and the space is usable, which it currently is not, Caccamo said. 

 

"He continues to develop that project on his own accord," Caccamo said. 

 

Caccamo said the funding is intended to help address contamination that was pre-existing when Martin purchased the building, including hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead-based paint and caulking.

 

Resident Cathy Foster questioned the intention of the name change, characterizing it as "shady." 

 

"People don't change the name of their company for the purpose of proving that they weren't responsible for something that happened there," she said. 

 

Some of the work is not pre-existing, Mike Lahey, assistant plumbing and gas inspector, told the board. 

 

The women's bathroom is currently closed, and the town issued Martin a cease-and-desist letter a year ago, Lahey said. 

 

The letter came after he and head plumbing and gas inspector Norman Rolnick observed workers demolishing the bathroom and its plumbing, as well as what was described as the improper removal of asbestos.

 

Lahey said before the cease-and-desist was issued, he had observed some of the workers removing barrels of material out of the building. 

 

"I knew something was up, so we went over. All the plumbing was demoed, no permits, done by unlicensed people, and a lot of the asbestos had fallen off the pipes," Lahey said. "He told me that's the way it was when he bought the building, which isn't true because I was in there when the ceiling was up. When they demoed the ceiling, the asbestos got disturbed and not removed correctly, and there's ventilation in that room that could feed back to the rest of the school."

 

Caccamo said that the cease-and-desist was a previous order handled through Martin's "outstanding building permits."

 

Foster and Lahey both questioned whether this name change would absolve Martin.

 

"I feel like the town is somehow participating in a fraud here. Nick, you said that the town could not have been the immediate preceding owner. What statute is that?" Foster asked. 

 

Caccamo said he did not have that statute readily available and that town council had not reviewed this matter. 

 

"I'm happy to table this if the board wishes to get more information," he said, which the board proceeded to do.